The Music Box
by Crystal7
Summary: Leia searches for her families past and discovers a secret that should have never been found... Please R/R!


The Music Box  
  
Prologue  
  
The tears clouded in Padme's eyes as she handed Obi-Wan her only son. She gently placed the tiny infant in Obi-Wan's waiting arms. She kissed the top of his head. He had blond hair just like his father's when he was little. "I'll never forget you."  
  
Obi-Wan reached over and hugged his dear friend, "I will take good care of him."  
  
Padme smiled through her tears as they broke apart, "I know you will." Padme looked over at her daughter sleeping in her crib. Leia's hair was extremely dark, just like her mother's. Padme chocked back more tears. In a few hours Leia would be gone from her forever as well.  
  
Obi-Wan reached over and handed her box, with intricate carving on the top. Padme gently took it in her own hands and opened the box. Beautiful music filled in ears. Music from her home planet of Naboo, not just music, music from Naboo Opera. Padme chocked back more tears as she smiled at Obi-Wan, "Thank you. This means the world to me."  
  
Obi-Wan gave her one last smile and left. He was leaving for Tatooine, with her son, her only son. Padme turned and picked up a picture. Another object that meant the world to her, a reminder of what used to be. She kissed the top of it and slid it into the secret compartment in the music box. Obi-Wan literally thought of everything.  
  
Leia gurgled and Padme put the music box away and picked up her daughter, "Nobody will ever know, will they?" Padme kissed Leia's forehead, "Nobody will ever know."  
  
Chapter One  
  
Leia brushed some stray hairs out of her eyes and she walked down the dusty streets of Tatooine, a planet she had hoped to never have to see again.  
  
"What exactly are we looking for?" Han Solo asked.  
  
Leia smiled at her impatient companion. "Answers. Answers about my family, Luke's and mine. We know nothing about our father, our mother; we know nothing about their history, about their lives. We don't even know our mother's name."  
  
Han laced his fingers through hers as he picked up her hand, "We'll find those answers Sweetheart."  
  
"Problem is," Luke Skywalker commented, "Is that we don't know exactly where to start."  
  
The group continued walking until Leia felt an invisible hand stop her. She turned towards a small shop, a trinket shop of sorts, and headed in.  
  
Luke and Han watched Leia wander through the crowds towards the small shop. Han looked at Luke with a strange and almost frightened look. Luke shrugged and they set off after the Princess of Alderaan.  
  
Leia felt like she was being guided toward a specific object in the crowded tent. Leia picked up a small music box that seemed oddly familiar. "That will be 20 credits." A nasally voice said. Unconsciously Leia handed her a handful of credits and walked out of the tent, still staring at the music box.  
  
Han and Luke finally caught up to Leia just as she was leaving the tent. "What's with the box?" Han asked.  
  
Leia simply continued to stare at it. Something seemed familiar, oddly familiar about that box. Leia ran her fingers across the top and then slowly unlocked and opened the box. Music rang out of the box and Leia felt like every cell her body was being caressed. Something about the music seemed so relaxing and so familiar.  
  
See-Threepio, being the nosy droid, commented, "That is music from the Naboo Opera, something so rare these days to hear."  
  
Han wanted to tell the droid to stuff it but from the way Leia was staring at the box it was as if she was mesmerized. "It seems so familiar." Leia whispered.  
  
"It cannot be," Threepio said.  
  
"Why?" Luke asked.  
  
"The carving on the top and the music makes it clear that this music box originates from the planet of Naboo. However, Naboo culture and life was destroyed a little after the Clone Wars."  
  
Leia tried to shake the familiar feeling she was getting from the box but she just couldn't seem to shake it. The box seemed so familiar somehow.  
  
"Why don't we find a place to stay for the evening and tomorrow we can begin our search?" Han suggested.  
  
Leia shook her head, "Our search as already begun."  
  
Ice chills traveled down Luke's spine at hearing his sister's voice. She sounded almost processed or as if she really had seen the music box before. He shuddered and exchanged another confused look with Han.  
  
Chapter Two  
  
Leia curled up on a chair inside the Tatooine Inn. She continued to stare at the music box. Something was so familiar about it and she really wanted to know what was. Her hands ran down the sides of the box. It seemed as if something was calling her to it. But what was it? Leia ran her fingers down the front of the music box and trigged some sort of lock. Leia put her fingers on the edge of a picture that was sticking out and gently pulled it out.  
  
Luke and Han watched all this, still confused. Han leaned over and whispered to his friend, "What do you think she has found?"  
  
Luke shrugged, "I really don't know. I'm just as confused as you are, old friend."  
  
Leia stared at the picture of seven people. Her eyes were drawn to the sad looking woman at the right, "Mom." She whispered.  
  
Luke bolted out of his chair, "What?"  
  
Leia gently touched the young woman's face. "This IS my mother." She looked at Luke, "I mean our mother."  
  
"How do you know?" Luke whispered.  
  
Leia's eyes squinted, "I just do. She seems so familiar. I barely knew our mother, she died when I was young but I just know this is her."  
  
Han watched the twins silently for a few minutes and then he asked the question they were all a little afraid to voice, "How did a Naboo music box with your mother's picture inside of it, get here on Tatooine?"  
  
Chapter Three  
  
Leia rubbed her eyes, she had been staring at the computer for hours. So far she had come up with little about the planet Naboo. Han handed her a strong cup of coffee, "Still nothing?"  
  
Leia shook her head and swiveled to face her lover, "Not much. I remember Bail once mentioning how Naboo was home to Chancellor Palpatine but other than that I know nothing."  
  
"Aren't Chancellor Palpatine and Emperor Palpatine the same person?" Han asked.  
  
Leia nodded, "Palpatine was elected Chancellor and then used his power to create his Empire, at least that's what I was told."  
  
"What do you mean, at least that's what you were told?"  
  
"Palpatine's past is still a mystery. He had most of the evidence and facts surrounding him erased when he created the Empire."  
  
Luke entered the room looking as tired as the rest of the felt. He blinked his eyes in a chance to clear them, "Maybe Palpatine destroyed Naboo and all evidence of its existence in a chance to erase his own past."  
  
Han looked at the Jedi, "I don't even want to know how you knew what we were talking about."  
  
Leia bit her lip, "Then why does Threepio have all that information on Naboo?"  
  
"All that information?" Han asked, "Goldenrod barely knew anything."  
  
"He did know more than most though," Luke pointed out.  
  
Leia picked up the photograph again. "I wonder who the other people in this picture are?"  
  
Han looked over her shoulder at the picture, "Family perhaps?"  
  
Leia clicked her tongue. There were two males and five females in the picture. Who were they? Han's suggestion of family was a good lead and a good possibility.  
  
"Luke, what about the Lars family?" Leia asked. Luke never talked about his aunt and uncle. Where they really his aunt and uncle? And if they were that made them Leia's family as well, didn't it?  
  
Luke sat down on a chair across from his sister, "There's not really much to tell. My grandfather, Cliegg Lars, died when I was just a baby and I don't really remember much about him."  
  
"How exactly were Anakin and Owen brothers?" Leia asked, "I mean were they half brothers or step brothers or something because they have different surnames."  
  
Luke shrugged, "I believe they were step brothers. Our grandmother married Cliegg, who already had a son, Owen."  
  
Leia pondered this for a moment, "What was our grandmother's name?"  
  
"Shmi," Luke answered, "Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru wouldn't talk about her much. I guess it was too painful for either of them."  
  
Han thought about this for a moment, "Is that all you know about them?"  
  
Luke nodded, "I never really asked questions because they usually didn't answer, they didn't like to shake up the family tree."  
  
"Maybe we should start shaking that tree out at the old moisture farm ruins." Han suggested.  
  
Chapter Four  
  
The group arrived at the Lars farm later the next afternoon. Chewbacca, the big furry Wookiee everyone loved, was already complaining about the sand in his fur.  
  
Luke swallowed tightly; he hadn't been back here since he saw his aunt and uncle's dead bodies. He closed his eyes to shut out the images but they just wouldn't seem to leave him alone. He blamed himself for their deaths, even after all these years the guilt wouldn't leave him alone.  
  
Leia walked down the ramp of the Millennium Falcon and already felt sad being there. She walked over the four headstones off to the side of the farm. Leia fell to her knees at her grandmother's grave and closed her eyes. In pain she grabbed and clenched some sand that was by her knees. As soon as she picked it up she could hear the painful cries of death in her head. There was also a woman crying and some man screaming "Anakin! Anakin!" Her body pulsed with pain and she threw the sand up over her head. Hot wind rushed around her and her hair picked up in the flying warm breeze.  
  
Luke knelt down beside his sister and gently put an arm on her shoulder, "Leia?"  
  
Leia opened her eyes and looked at her brother, "He murdered her. Its very possible our father murdered our grandmother." Leia's body trembled and two hot tears slipped out from under her eyelids.  
  
Luke swallowed his own tears and wrapped his sister in his arms, "I'm sure that's not true."  
  
Leia didn't answer as a strange, melodious voice filled her head. "You need to be calm, honey, you MUST find your mother's secrets. Your future depends on it."  
  
Han down the ramp of his ship to see the twins embracing and even from as far away as he was he could see Leia shake. What was wrong? Han slowly walked over. "What's wrong?"  
  
Luke pulled away from his sister and brushed himself off. Han helped Leia up and she too brushed the sand from her clothes. "We need to find my mother's answers. They key may very well be here. If we split up we may be able to find something sooner."  
  
Luke looked Han with a confused expression. Han shrugged and mouthed, "Do what she says." Luke nodded and the group split up.  
  
As soon as Luke and Han left her, Leia pulled out the picture again. "How well did you know my grandmother, Mother?" Leia headed towards one of the burnt buildings and felt the pains of death invade her system again. Something was here, pain, more suffering.  
  
Han and Luke wandered through some wreckage. Han sighed, "Kid, I really don't know how much we will find. It looks as though Jawas have stolen just about everything."  
  
Luke nodded, "And what they haven't stolen sand storms have probably ruined. We used to get some nasty storms through-" Luke was cut off by a blood curdling scream.  
  
Luke looked and Han and they both cried, "Leia!"  
  
It didn't take the two men long to catch up with Leia. Leia sat crouched on the ground outside the main house, "Leia, Sweetheart, what is it?" Han asked.  
  
Leia didn't answer, she simply rocked on her heals, "Pain, suffering, death."  
  
Han looked up at look and raised his eyebrows, "What exactly is going on here, Kid?"  
  
Luke was deep in thought for a moment, "I really don't know. It seems that Leia has a deep connection with our family. A strong connection with our mother, perhaps even our grandmother. Something I do not share."  
  
Han brushed back some stray hairs that were sticking to Leia's forehead, "What do you think we should do?"  
  
"Maybe we might find some answers at Ben's old hut."  
  
Leia looked up at her brother with a wild expression, "No! The answers are here. OUR answers are here, somewhere. We just need to find them. That music box was here on Tatooine for a reason, we are here for a reason."  
  
"But what is that reason?" Luke asked.  
  
Leia looked at him with an expression that almost scared Luke, "We need to find that reason.  
  
Chapter Five  
  
Leia continued to explore long after both Luke and Han had given up. She knew their answers were here. They were here somewhere. Leia headed into the old garage.  
  
"I killed them. I killed them all! They're like animals!"  
  
Leia shuddered. Her answers were right here in that building. She could feel it. Han slowly entered in behind her, "What do you hear or see that I don't?"  
  
Leia wavered on her feet, "I don't know." She whispered before collapsing.  
  
"Leia!" Han rushed to help her but she seemed to already be up on her own in the half second that it took him to get to her.  
  
Leia sat on the floor and stared up at the man she loved, "My grandmother was murdered by Tuskens and in revenge Anakin killed them all. Even the women and the children." Han simply stared at her. Leia continued, despite his confusion, "Those were his first steps to the darkside, Han, his first steps." Leia pulled herself out of his embrace and slowly walked towards the steps. She pointed down, "My mother sat right here, RIGHT HERE, and listened to his tale of woe."  
  
Luke watched carefully from the entrance of the garage, Leia was so intoned to the past that he was afraid to come forward or say anything in hopes that maybe she might be able to tell them SOMETHING.  
  
Leia dug through her pocket for the picture of their mother's family again. "There's something here." She whispered. Leia carefully examined each face in the picture. There was something different about their mother's. Something that reflected sadness, not loneliness, but it was almost as if their mother was hiding something, like she had a secret. "Not life threatening, but life altering." Leia muttered. She looked up, "Luke, could have Threepio and Artoo do some research on Naboo, see if there is a connection between that planet and our parents."  
  
Luke nodded, "Yes, I'll see to it right away."  
  
Leia smiled at her twin, "Thank you." Leia turned away and looked at the picture once more before putting it away. "Mother and Grandmother are trying to tell me something, something important, something we HAVE to know."  
  
Chapter Six  
  
Han propped his feet up on the table in front of him, "Thank heavens she is finally asleep."  
  
Luke rubbed the sleep out of his own eyes. They were sitting on the Millennium Falcon, Threepio and Artoo had been researching Naboo extensively for hours but so far hadn't come up with something important to their search. "I am amazed at Leia's Force skills in this search." Luke admitted, "She seems to have such a connection to the place where I grew up, a connection I don't posses, she almost seems to have a deep connection to our mother and grandmother."  
  
Han had known Luke long enough to sense the jealously creeping out of the young man's voice, "Yeah but remember you have a deep connection to Anakin and Obi-Wan that Lie doesn't have and now Leia seems to have a deep connection to your mother and grandmother. Perhaps Force connections are a male to male, female to female, sort of thing."  
  
Luke sat back to consider the idea, "Maybe."  
  
Threepio and Artoo came bustlingly in at that very moment. "Did you find anything?" Han asked.  
  
A very excited Threepio handed Han a print out. "This is a hidden and top secret print out of Queen Amidala of Naboo."  
  
"So?" Luke asked, not quite sure what an old Queen and his mother had in common.  
  
Han studied the picture at the top for a moment before grabbing the picture of Leia's family out of Luke's hand. "I think they are the same woman. Its hard to tell because there must be at least ten years difference between both pictures and the Queen is wearing a cake load of makeup."  
  
Luke stood up and moved over to study the picture behind Han's shoulder. "I think they are the same as well."  
  
Han quickly reads over the information below Queen Amidala's picture, "Well all it says here is that she was Queen of Naboo for tens years and then finally became a Senator for the Republic. She was a leader during the Clone Wars and often accompanied Bail Organa on peace missions."  
  
"There's the connection to Leia's adoption," Luke pointed out  
  
"IF your mother and this Queen Amidala are the same person."  
  
Luke pondered the thought but his thoughts were interrupted by the blood curdling scream.  
  
Chapter Seven  
  
Leia's eyes flew open and her pulse was racing. Just at that moment Han and Luke came racing in the room. "Are you alright?" Han asked.  
  
Leia's breathing slowed and she reached up and grasped her brother's hand. "We are running out of time. I can't explain it but this secret of mother's, we MUST find it!"  
  
"What do you mean?" Luke carefully asked.  
  
"I can't explain it," Leia told him, "I just know, something inside of me is telling me that we are running out of time."  
  
Han looked at the woman he loved with a painful expression. "We found some information and we think that the old queen of Naboo, Amidala, may very well be your mother."  
  
Leia bit her lip, "Then we must go to Naboo."  
  
Threepio, who was actually quite for once, spoke up, "But Princess Leia, Naboo was destroyed during the Clone Wars."  
  
"I don't care, we HAVE to go." She looked at the two people who meant the most to her in the world, "We have to."  
  
Han nodded, "Chewie and I will get the ship prepared to leave."  
  
Luke helped Leia back down, "You need your rest." Leia closed her eyes, "There's something in that picture, Luke, something I can't explain. But the answer is right in front me, why can't I see it?"  
  
Chapter Eight  
  
A few hours later they arrived at the broken planet Naboo. Leia walked slowly down the ramp and looked at the ruined planet. She felt her heart breaking at the sight of it. Suddenly a cry of pain and help exploded in her head and just as suddenly as it had come it left.  
  
Leia once more took out the picture of her mother's family. Her forefinger ran across the face of one of the little girls, "Pooja. That's her name. She's the one we need to help."  
  
Han looked at Luke, "How does she know this?"  
  
Luke shrugged, "Either she's always known it subconsciously and the Force is helping her to reawaken those memories or someone is helping her along."  
  
"You mean like a dead spirit or something?"  
  
"Or something."  
  
"We need to split up again," Leia said, "There's something here. I can FEEL it." Leia's fingers once again ran through the designs on top of the music box. Images of her mother and Obi-Wan flashed through her head. They were saying goodbye. "That's not all, there's something here. Something between Mother and Obi-Wan."  
  
Luke was so startled that for the first time since he'd known him Han had to support him to keep him from falling over.  
  
"Friends, close friends, but something else, love, not romantic love, but sibling love, and." Leia's thoughts drifted off. She couldn't seem to finish her sentence. "Threepio, keep digging for information on Queen or Senator Amidala." Leia slowly wandered off, "There's something here."  
  
"Threepio," Han called, "Do as she says."  
  
"Yes, Captain Solo." Threepio wandered back onto the ship.  
  
Han slowly steadied Luke on his feet, "Kid, I'm worried about her."  
  
Luke nodded, "So am I."  
  
Chapter Nine  
  
Leia walked down a street that clearly hadn't been walked in quite some time. Images of her father, her mother, and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Did her father's turning force her mother and the Jedi Master into a friendship for survival? Her head continued to pulse, it was the most intense feeling she had ever had, and personally she didn't care for it.  
  
Leia looked at the second little girl in the picture. "Ryoo." Darkness clouded over Leia's thoughts, "She was murdered." She whispered, "Murdered in cold blood as a message to the Naberrie family."  
  
"Naberrie. Amidala, no, Padme Naberrie." Leia's body started to shake and she started pointed to the younger looking man in the picture, "Uncle Darred." Leia's body suddenly began to shake, "THAT'S how I know."  
  
Leia's knees gave out below her and she fell into the dirt. "I used to visit them when I was little, before. before Mother died. I was very close to Uncle Darred. I called him uncle because. because he and Bail were good friends until." Here her voice faltered and she remembered what had happened to Viceroy Organa's good friends.  
  
The oldest daughter was murdered as a message to the Naberrie family to stop their protests and anti-Imperial sentiments. The rest of the family had disappeared and foul play had been involved but no investigation ever took place. Leia's fingers ran over the face of the youngest child in the picture, Pooja. Something still nagged in her mind, "She's still ALIVE!"  
  
Chapter Ten  
  
Leia stood up and ran, she ran right past the Falcon and didn't even her husband's call for her. She just kept running.  
  
It only took a few seconds for her husband and brother to gather up enough speed for them to follow her. "Where's she going," Han panted after a couple hours.  
  
They group was wet running through the swamp and Han felt muggy, tired, and his legs ached like they never have before.  
  
Luke had even given up trying to use the Force to keep his body cool and relaxed, he just felt too tired, "I have no idea."  
  
When they two men finally caught up to Leia they found her kneeling in a large circle of grass, clawing at it. "What are you doing?" Han asked.  
  
"Digging." Leia told him, as if it was an obvious answer. Han dug in his back pocked for his communicator and told Chewie to bring to Flacon around to a nearby clearing and see if they have any digging equipment on board.  
  
It only took Chewie a few minutes to bring the Falcon around. Chewie hauled all the digging equipment off the ship, not much but enough.  
  
They four of them dig for hours before hearing a soft "clunk." Leia made a quick motion with her hand, "Stop." They cleared away the remaining dirt before coming across several bodies, all bones. Leia sucked in a breath and reached down and picked up a nearby skull, "Grandfather."  
  
Han looked at Leia and then to Luke, "Not including your mother we are one short of everyone in that picture."  
  
"That's because Pooja's alive, somewhere. But she's in danger, terrible danger."  
  
Leia gently set the skull of Ruwee Naberrie back in the mud and picked up another skull, "Grandmother."  
  
"How could you do this to us!? We welcomed you in our home!"  
  
Leia gently set it down as her body shook, "He killed them. He killed his own family."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Father," Luke answered. "Our father."  
  
Chapter Eleven  
  
Leia bent down and picked up a mud filed pendant. It was marked with an odd crest.  
  
"What's that?" Han asked, unsure if he wanted to know, considering the last answer he had just gotten on a question he had asked.  
  
Leia wiped the mud from the pendant. "The Naboo Royal Crest." Leia wiped the tears from her face, in the process smearing her face with mud. "Luke we HAVE to find Pooja, our cousin, she is in great danger."  
  
"But where would she be, how do we find her?" Came Luke's answer.  
  
Han shook his head and was afraid to admit that even though it was pure luck, no it was the Force that had brought them this far, it was going to have to lead them the rest of the way. "Why don't' we return to the Falcon and see if we can find anything else."  
  
Leia reached over and picked up another skull, possibly her aunt's. "Tatooine. She's on Tatooine."  
  
Chapter Twelve  
  
"What?"  
  
"Pooja is on Tatooine." Leia mumbled, "Obi-Wan brought her there to survive, to hide."  
  
Han sighed as much as he loved his wife and even his brother-in-law, he felt like he was on a ghost chase. "Well lets get going shall we?" Han was tired and hadn't slept for days, since this search began. He just hoped it was over quickly. He missed his wife.  
  
Chapter Thirteen  
  
Leia flew off the ramp of the Flacon as soon as it landed and through the dusty streets of Mos Espa on the desert planet of Tatooine. The group followed, though slower, and Luke wondered aloud if this strong connection Leia had with the Force may leave some lasting effects on her mind and body.  
  
Han shrugged, "I just want my wife back."  
  
"She's so deeply connected to the Force, I think that Leia's not even really Leia at this point, the Force or perhaps something else is acting through her. Using her physical abilities to save our cousin."  
  
Han again shrugged, "I just hope when this is over that Leia becomes herself."  
  
"That makes too of us," The Jedi replied.  
  
Leia burst into the small hut to find a young woman, about ten years or so older then Leia strapped to a chair and an ex-Imperial holding a blaster to her poor cousin's head. "Let her go!"  
  
"I murdered her whole damn family and somehow I missed her, I HAVE to finish my job."  
  
Luke was strangely calm (even for a Jedi) as he entered to hut, "You also missed the two of us."  
  
"You lie. You have no connections to Naberrie family."  
  
"Wrong," Leia argued, "My mother was Padme Amidala Naberrie, Queen of Naboo for eight years, and my father was Anakin Skywalker, your former superior who you know as Darth Vader." Leia hissed the her father's Sith name for effect.  
  
The man stood frozen and it was just enough time for Leia to kick the blaster from his hand and punch him in the nose.  
  
Leia untied Pooja and quickly embraced her cousin, "You're safe now."  
  
Chapter Fourteen  
  
After eating some food and getting something to drink Leia finally asked Pooja to tell her story. "Anakin and Padme married in secret because the Jedi Order forbids marriage."  
  
"That must have been the other secret." Leia whispered.  
  
"What did the Naberrie family do that scared the Empire so badly?" Han asked.  
  
"It was Imperial Protests, while my - our - family was strongly against the Empire the real reason they were killed was as a message to Aunt Padme. The Emperor wanted her son. Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader knew she had born a son and wanted that child. They tried several different ways for about a year and a half after your birth before resulting to murderer. They knew about Luke, that's why you were sent to a remote place. But Leia you were a secret, and a secret weapon.  
  
Mother was beside herself but remained strong enough to tell Aunt Padme not to do it. That the fate of the galaxy rested in your hands, Luke. Yours and Leia's.  
  
But that chapter of my life is over now." Pooja reached over and took Leia's hand in one of her own and Luke's hand with her right hand. "I have found my family at last."  
  
Epilogue  
  
Padme hugged Ruwee Naberrie for what she knew would be last time, "I love you Daddy."  
  
He tightened his grip around his youngest daughter, his pride and joy. "Do not worry. I know what you are thinking and it is not your fault. It's the way it has to be." He kissed her cheek and pulled away.  
  
Jobal handed her daughter a picture, it had been taken just before Ryoo's murder. "To remember us when we are gone."  
  
Two tears slid down Padme's cheeks and she quickly said goodbye to her sister and her brother-in-law.  
  
Obi-Wan guided Padme, holding her twin son and daughter, from the room and grasped young Pooja's hand. "I'm sorry."  
  
Padme sucked in a breath, "Its not your fault I married an angry Jedi."  
  
THE END 


End file.
